Gallery Loupe at SOFA: A Recap.

[Patti Bleicher]

We have been keeping busy here at Gallery Loupe but not too busy to reminisce about SOFA NY, the important contemporary art and design fair, that took place April 20^th -23^rd at the Park Avenue Armory. This was the first year that Gallery Loupe participated and it will certainly not be our last.

                                      Susanne Klemm, Neck piece. “Anemone”, 2012.  Polyolefin.

We were very pleased to have three of our artists, Susanne Klemm, Tobias Alm, and Sandra Enterline on hand for in-booth talks (they were also present for the opening night festivities). Susanne Klemm kicked things off on Friday, April 20^th with a talk called “Growing” which focused on her new body of work, appropriately titled, “Growth.” During this talk, Klemm educated our group about her material of choice, “Polyolefin” or a type of plastic shrink wrap. This industrial material is often used in the electronics sector. Klemm, who takes her cue from nature, covers branches in the polyolefin, by creating what she calls a “second skin”. This is done with the help of a heater; the plastic shrinks at 80 degrees Celsius and covers the form. Klemm says “I cover small branches with layers of epoxy. Sometimes up to 50 layers. I work similarly to the way that nature does on a tree, creating annual rings.” Klemm has many machines in her studio that help her achieve this look, although she initially only had one benchwhen she started her own workshop in 1995.  One machine works day and night to accomplish the results that she wants: a big piece of epoxy.  “Like a sculptor on a piece of marble, I cut out, step by step, ring shapes where the layering results in the most exciting pattern and colors.”

Susanne Klemm, Ring.  “Bluelayer”, 2012. Epoxy, wood.

On Saturday, April 21^st we were honored to host a legendary jewelry artist, Georg Dobler, and an emerging talent, Tobias Alm at the Gallery Loupe booth. In the morning Patti introduce the Dobler whose talk was sponsored by SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths). During his fascinating lecture, Dobler showed slides of his work and how both nature and geometry play an important role in his oeuvre.  For anyone who was interested in seeing these works in person, we organized a retrospective of Dobler’s work in our booth. After the talk, Dobler participated in an in-booth book signing.  Later in the day, Alm held a captive audience with his talk called “Guided by Intuition.” This was the perfect title for this intimate lecture as Alm stressed how his working process is really guided by his intuition and he allows his imagination to take over and does not like to be rational or logical when creating his work.  Alm told us that his “hunches and gut feelings” allow him to take his work to unpredictable places. It is because his creative process is so free and uninhibited that he likes to work with materials that he calls “quick” that will allow him to see results immediately.  His most recent necklaces and brooches are made out of wood, his “darling material”. He likes wood because he said that it “is alive, flexible and diverse” and therefore “works very well with my artistic process.” It will be exciting to see where Alm’s work is headed next and we hope to one day stage a retrospective of his work as well.

Tobias Alm, Brooch.  “11th Series no. 24″.  Wood, steel.

Tobias Alm,  Neckpiece.  “11th Series no. 11.”  Wood, cotton.

Finally, on Sunday, April 22^nd, Sandra Enterline concluded the series with her talk called “Windows.” Enterline spoke to us about how childhood memories of her hometown in Northern Pennsylvania, whose abandoned factories she likened to “hulking industrial cathedrals: gritty, mysterious, immense and dark, yet they are strangely fragile and delicate at the same time” have shaped her work.  Enterline told the group that “this image was one that inspired me to start working with diamond sheets and dark oxidized silver. The diamonds are captured in crude settings and are like delicate windows that punctuate each setting and capture light. The windows allow light to pass through each diamond, irregularly shaped and flawed with inclusions, streaks of grey, black and yellow. The piece is reminiscent of a web; it is organic and rustic but at the same time it has an industrial quality. Ultimately, I am searching for the materials in the jewelry to be simultaneously harmonious and perplexing.”

   Sandra Enterline, Brooch. “Diamond Window Lotus”. Oxidized sterling silver, palladium white gold, diamond slices.

       Sandra Enterline, Neck piece. “Diamond Window”. Oxidized sterling silver, palladium white gold, diamond slices.

We thank all of the artists for participating in the talks and believe that their presence in our booth made a huge difference. The experience of purchasing a piece of jewelry and meeting its maker is just as important as wearing the piece and sharing it with the world.